William Thornhill is spending his first night in New South Wales after having been transported for ‘the term of his natural life’. The year is 1806. He and his family are in a hut made of bark, sticks and mud. He cannot sleep and steps outside where he comes across an Aboriginal man holding a spear. He is afraid but yells at the man to go. The man eventually disappears into the night.
Internal conflict
Thornhill is a man who has been placed in a completely foreign environment: “Only Thornhill could not bring himself to close his eyes in this foreign darkness.” (3) He is feeling vulnerable and unsettled. Key Quotes: Thornhill’s inner conflict 'He had not cried, not for thirty years, not since he was a hungry child too young to know that crying did not fill your belly.' (4)
Conflict with the environment
For Thornhill, who has spent a lifetime in England, the confrontation of a new environment evokes a powerful sense of unfamiliarity: “Above him in the sky was a thin moon and a scatter of stars as meaningless as spilt rice. There was no Pole Star, a friend to guide him on the Thames, no Bear that he had known all his life: only this blaze, unreadable, indifferent.” (4) The Australian land is depicted to be harsh and unforgiving, as highlighted through the imagery of ‘dirt chill…sharp stab…alien stars' (4) This conflict with the brutal landscape, along with the unknown leaves Thornhill apprehensive of what is to come. His feeling that he was ‘nothing more than a flea on the side of some enormous quiet creature’ (4) depicts the Australian land almost like a monster. Additionally, the words ‘restless’ draw to the idea that the land is at discomfort or uneasy to have new inhabitants. Key Quotes:Conflict with the land 'Now it had fetched up at the end of the earth.' (3) '…this prison whose bars were ten thousand miles of water.' (3) 'foreign darkness.' (3) '…soughing of the forest, mile after mile.' (3)
Racial conflict
The conflict between two cultures is shown through the initial encounter between Thornhill and an Indigenous Australian. Without any conversation, the tension between the two is clear, merely through their actions in each other’s presence. Thornhill notes the Aboriginal male’s tattoos, yet regards them as ‘scars’ (5) since he is unaware to their culture. Even before this man, Thornhill is still infused with a sense of nakedness because of his unfamiliarity. His feeling that ‘every muscle was tensed…the cold moment of finding that unforgiving thing in his flesh’ highlights the tension of his first encounter of an Australian Aboriginal while it also foreshadows a suffering and anguish for his time ahead. We get our first insight into him feeling superior to another person after having been at the bottom of the social ladder for so long: “After so long as a felon, hunched under the threat of the lash, he felt himself expanding back into his full size. His voice was rough, full of power, his anger a solid warmth inside him.” (5) We gain an insight into the reasons behind his aggressive attitude towards the Aboriginal man: “He had died once, in a manner of speaking. He could die again. He had been stripped of everything already: he had only the dirt under his bare feet, his small grip on this unknown place. He had nothing but that, and those helpless sleeping humans in the hut behind him. He was not about to surrender them to any naked black man.” (6) He is determined that he and his family will survive after all they have been through. Key Quotes: Conflict between natives and white settlers 'It took a moment to understand that the stirring was a human, as black as the air itself.' (5) 'Clothed as he was, Thornhill felt skinless as a maggot.' (5) 'This was a kind of madness, as if a dog were to bark in English.' (6)
Section analysis: Strangers
Summary
William Thornhill is spending his first night in New South Wales after having been transported for ‘the term of his natural life’. The year is 1806. He and his family are in a hut made of bark, sticks and mud. He cannot sleep and steps outside where he comes across an Aboriginal man holding a spear. He is afraid but yells at the man to go. The man eventually disappears into the night.Internal conflict
Thornhill is a man who has been placed in a completely foreign environment: “Only Thornhill could not bring himself to close his eyes in this foreign darkness.” (3) He is feeling vulnerable and unsettled.Key Quotes: Thornhill’s inner conflict
'He had not cried, not for thirty years, not since he was a hungry child too young to know that crying did not fill your belly.' (4)
Conflict with the environment
For Thornhill, who has spent a lifetime in England, the confrontation of a new environment evokes a powerful sense of unfamiliarity:“Above him in the sky was a thin moon and a scatter of stars as meaningless as spilt rice. There was no Pole Star, a friend to guide him on the Thames, no Bear that he had known all his life: only this blaze, unreadable, indifferent.” (4)
The Australian land is depicted to be harsh and unforgiving, as highlighted through the imagery of ‘dirt chill…sharp stab…alien stars' (4)
This conflict with the brutal landscape, along with the unknown leaves Thornhill apprehensive of what is to come. His feeling that he was ‘nothing more than a flea on the side of some enormous quiet creature’ (4) depicts the Australian land almost like a monster. Additionally, the words ‘restless’ draw to the idea that the land is at discomfort or uneasy to have new inhabitants.
Key Quotes: Conflict with the land
'Now it had fetched up at the end of the earth.' (3)
'…this prison whose bars were ten thousand miles of water.' (3)
'foreign darkness.' (3)
'…soughing of the forest, mile after mile.' (3)
Racial conflict
The conflict between two cultures is shown through the initial encounter between Thornhill and an Indigenous Australian. Without any conversation, the tension between the two is clear, merely through their actions in each other’s presence. Thornhill notes the Aboriginal male’s tattoos, yet regards them as ‘scars’ (5) since he is unaware to their culture. Even before this man, Thornhill is still infused with a sense of nakedness because of his unfamiliarity. His feeling that ‘every muscle was tensed…the cold moment of finding that unforgiving thing in his flesh’ highlights the tension of his first encounter of an Australian Aboriginal while it also foreshadows a suffering and anguish for his time ahead.We get our first insight into him feeling superior to another person after having been at the bottom of the social ladder for so long: “After so long as a felon, hunched under the threat of the lash, he felt himself expanding back into his full size. His voice was rough, full of power, his anger a solid warmth inside him.” (5)
We gain an insight into the reasons behind his aggressive attitude towards the Aboriginal man: “He had died once, in a manner of speaking. He could die again. He had been stripped of everything already: he had only the dirt under his bare feet, his small grip on this unknown place. He had nothing but that, and those helpless sleeping humans in the hut behind him. He was not about to surrender them to any naked black man.” (6) He is determined that he and his family will survive after all they have been through.
Key Quotes: Conflict between natives and white settlers
'It took a moment to understand that the stirring was a human, as black as the air itself.' (5)
'Clothed as he was, Thornhill felt skinless as a maggot.' (5)
'This was a kind of madness, as if a dog were to bark in English.' (6)